I'm Chris and I am addicted to yard sales, garage sales, thrift stores and bargain hunting in general. Visit my site yardsalequeen.com - which I started in 1996.
"Smile" and "VV" (Vintage Value) are the names of two thrift stores I regularly shop at.
I grew up in Clifton Park NY but now live in Lusby, MD. I also lived in other exciting locales such as Schenectady, Watervliet (NY), and Charleston, SC.

Friday, May 30, 2008

(No, his Long Trip Alone tractor trailer but doesn't have www.yardsalequeen.com written underneath, but I think it would be a good idea)

Before the concert - notice the cottage style lighthouse behind the stage. It was a gorgeous day for an outdoor concert.

You know you can click on the pics to see them enlarged. Yes, I know the top of his head is a little cut off in some of the pics. Ummmm....... I did that on purpose for artistic photographic purposes. Yes that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I noticed at the concert there was some little girls who brought small handwritten posters (about 8"x11" size) that said "Dierks bring out the dogs" (One of his dogs frequently appears in his music videos). So anyway after the show I was hanging around waiting for traffic to die down and saw that he and his entourage were relaxing near the lighthouse and Jake (his white dog) was roaming around the area. I wish that parent had kept their kid around to see that.

When I last posted on the blog, the CNN interview was scheduled for Thursday morning but it got changed to today. So that meant I had a full day to clean, attempt to hide clutter and get nervous.

Now its all out of my hands - I just hope I don't come across looking like a total idiot (I don't mind looking like a partial idiot, but looking like a total idiot would be too much).

They worked fast (the reporter and cameraman) - I think they were here less than an hour and that included scoping out where to do the interview, setting up the camera and lighting, doing the interview and then breaking down all the equipment.

I only took two pics when they were here. I sat in the director's type chair (purchased for $5 years ago at a yardsale) and the reporter sat with her back to the camera. Here's the better of the two:

I don't know when the story will run but the reporter will let me know. Looking back on it, I should have answered every question with "Well on my website yardsalequeen dot com, I tell people they should yadda yadda". But I didn't. Heck, not even sure if yardsalequeen.com will be mentioned. But....once it airs I'll have a new category of Media to add to my Media page

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

I got an email from Jan in England - she sent me a link to the Queen's Foundation. She was concerned that the email I received the other day was bogus. Very sweet of her to be concerned for me. For the record though, George Wallect didn't need my credit card info - giving credit card info to a stranger would be stupid. All he wanted was my bank account routing # and my mother's maiden name. I mean, really, he would need that anyway to electronically transfer the money.

In visiting the Queen's Foundation website, I learned ironically that they run a chain of second hand stores in England to help the disabled. They must be doing well if they can afford to send me $500,000! I think once I get the money, I will just donate it back to them (less my processing fees, of course) to open more stores. The world can always use more thrift stores. Here is the legitmate info on the Queen's Foundation thrift stores and their locations - Queen's Foundation Thrift Stores

It would probably remind me of the Vintage Value stores that I shop at - they employ disabled people and use it as a job training facility.

Well it was a busy weekend and I still have more to report - more about the yardsale I had on Saturday at the fairgrounds, more Dierks Bentley pics and maybe talk about the 6 hours I spent painting our fence. The fence painting sounds exciting doesn't it?

p.s. I think the $4 Bjorndal sandals I bought the other day are going to be my "going out the mailbox" wearing shoes. I wore them the other day and not very comfortable. I will try them again and see if they just need to be broken in more. I think their name is supposed to fool people into thinking they are made by some of fancy Swedish company, but in fact, probably just made in China.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Just a quick note (it's been a long day since it started off by having a yardsale and ending up with seeing Dierks Bentley. Really really close. I took this pic during a well deserved break from volunteer bartending (we were non-stop busy for at least 2 hours straight). There was a photo line where people could walk up right next to the stage. (Thanks to the person who recommended the watermarking site)

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Went to Smile and found some shoes. A pair of like new Aerosoles ($2), a pair of Bjorndal $4 and a pair of Helmut Lang sandals $5. The Helmut Lang shoes are too big so they will probably get put on ebay.

After Smile, I went to Walgreens and bought a cart-full of stuff for $12. I happened upon a day when they were reorganizing the coolers and had all kinds of Snapple, Sobe, and Gatorade for .34 each. They also had a bunch of Milkbone dog treats - big bags - normally $5 for $1.24 each (I bought 4 packages). And I had a coupon for $20.00 off a OneTouch Glucose Meter, which were on sale for $14.99. I don't need the glucose meter, but I will sell it at my next yardsale, which is soon.

The cashier took the full price of the coupon $20 off, even though the glucose meter was $14.99. The cashier is the paid professional - not me. It's not my job to the cashier how to ring up a coupon. Soooooo.... if they want to give me $20 off a $14.99 item, I let them. The above pic is all the teas I got plus the glucose meter. Forgot to put the dog treats in the pic. All in all, I ended up paying $12-something.

And if you happened to miss yummy David Cook last night in the Guitar Hero commercial - here it is for your viewing pleasure. I taped this off our TV (DVR) using my little digital camera focusing on the tv screen. Love my DVR!

ZZ Top is going to be in our area next month. I think I'll try to work (volunteer) at it - just for the slim chance of a special guest star. Here's another video that I recorded off my TV/DVR.

Congratulations The Queen Elizabeth's Foundation has chosen you by the board of trustees as one of the final recipients of a cash Grant/Donation for your own personal, educational, and business development. To celebrate the 30th anniversary program, We are giving out a yearly donation of US$500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) to 5 lucky recipients, as charity donations/aid from the Queen Elizabeth's Foundation, ECOWAS, EU, UNICEF and the UNO in accordance with the enabling act of Parliament, which is part of our promotion. To file for your claim you are to fill out below information and send it to Mr.George Wallect The Executive Secretary Via his email contact address.

I am so excited to be a beneficiary. After I fill out the form, I'll probably just have to send them my credit card info just to prove to them that I am who I say I am, but then - yippee - the money will start rolling in!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

I did a radio interview today at noon for a Detroit based radio show - Rick Bloom Show It was scheduled a few weeks ago and last week I told my husband "On Sunday you and Jacob are going somewhere. I don't care where, just get out of the house so I can do the radio interview in peace". He said ok. So on Friday, what does he tell me? "I'm going golfing on Sunday, I have a 10am tee-time with the guys". GRRRRRRRR. So I remind him about our conversation last week. It did no good, he was going golfing.

This same sorta thing happened a while ago. I had a radio interview scheduled and at the last minute my husband got called into work (some minor *thing* at the nuke plant was going on and he needed to be there.) Geez, where are his priorities??? So what if the nuclear power plant needs him, doesn't he realize I have important yardsale words of wisdom to spread to the world via radio and he has to watch Jacob? Well that time, I locked myself in our bedroom and did the interview with Jacob BANGING on the door - MOMMY let me in - MOMMY LET ME IN! Over and over again. It was awful. So that was what I was fearing would happen again today.

Jacob can occupy himself for hours on end, watching videos, playing computer, playing outside, but he has a sixth sense about when there are times that I cannot give him attention and its at those moments he wants to hang all over me and not leave me alone.

So for today, here's what I did. I know that I did was wasteful (wasting water) but hopefully I won't have to do it again. The interview was at noon. I put out some toys he hadn't played with in a while and he busied himself in his room from 11:30am to 11:55 (of course). Then he came looking for me. Crap. I told him I was going to take a shower and for him to go downstairs. I turned the shower on cold - and low water - and turned the bathroom fan on and left the bathroom (locking the door behind me). Then I snuck into my bedroom, locked the door and did the interview with no disruptions. Jacob thought I was taking an extra long shower and I was able to do my interview in peace.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Ok, so it's Saturday and I was at some yardsales earlier today. Big surprise there. But the most interesting thing was seeing a dog that looks like my Whiskey dog. Once in a while, on a tv commercial or something, I'll spot a dog that sort of resembles Whiskey but never in real life have a seen a dog that looks so much like him. I guess when you have a purebreed dog you think nothing of seeing dogs that look like your dog. Like if you have a pug, then all the other pugs look sorta like your own pug etc.

Ok, so here is the Whiskey imposter (I had to take a picture - the woman was carrying him around like a baby (maybe she didn't have a leash - they were visiting next door to the yardsale and stopped over to shop).

And here is the real authentic Whiskey. His hair in this pic looks smooth because he had gotten shaved and it was still growing out - otherwise his hair would look exactly like the wiry-haired Whiskey imposter.

Friday, May 16, 2008

In case my clue about my vacation wasn't obvious (I thought it was soooo totally obvious - haha) - I am going to Bermuda! My sister and I are going on a cruise in the fall - with the only port being Bermuda. I love Bermuda. I spent a college spring break there a few years back. Or was it decades ago?? No, I am *sure* it was just a few years ago because I am still so young.

The trip is going to be relatively cheap considering there is no airfare involved. I will just drive to the port (Baltimore - not too far) and pay $10 a day to park. I signed up for Royal Caribbean's email newsletters and happened to see that they were running a special on May 13th. Book your cruise on that day and get a $50 onboard credit. Not a big deal but I told my sister we should book it that day since we are positive about what date we can both sail on. Because of my husband's work schedule, there was only 1 date that I could go on - he has to be available to get Jacob on and off the bus etc.

I am so glad we booked it. I just looked at the Royal Caribbean website and the price of our cruise just jumped $150! I can't wait to tell my sister that we just *saved* ourselves $150 each.

I love cruises. I haven't been on one in 8 years - the last cruise I was on was NCL's Norway back when I was preggers with Jacob. Most of my cruises have been on NCL but I have been on RCCL once before.

Man, I wish I had found these items last month - they could have been Mother's Day gifts! But now I gotta save them until Christmas. The thing on the left is a $2 religious dust collector. My mom sorta collects religious stuff that looks like this. Or maybe it was that she had ONE item like this at one time and I took it upon myself to buy her more since I never know what to buy her. But I think she will like it since it's egg shaped and she's 100% Ukrainian.

And my mom is a big Food TV fan and she had other Paula Deen books. This one was a $1. (My sister met Paula Deen at the Nashville airport a few years back and said she was as nice as she seems on tv. My sister ran into the airport gift store and bought a copy of Paula's magazine and got it autographed).

We didn't have any plans for today, so I suggested going bowling (I guess I had bowling balls on the brain). I have a some Banquet free bowling coupons and it does make me feel good to use them, rather having them go to waste. They expire at the end of the month - the coupons were on the packages of the cheap Banquet tv dinners. The total cost of kickin' butt? Priceless. But the monetary value was $0.00 (except for gas to get there). Free bowling and this particular bowling alley has free kid's shoe rental. Dh and I each have our own bowling shoes so no need to rent shoes.

Above is a picture of the butt kickin' I did to my family earlier today. I don't think 138 is a high score by any means, but it was good enough today.

Friday, May 09, 2008

The other day I drove down a street in my neighborhood that I usually don't drive on, and for the first time saw this interesting use of old bowling balls. You know how you can always find old bowling balls for a buck or so at a yardsale? I wonder if that's how this fence got started. The yard is on a hill, so I wasn't able to take a picture of the entire bowling ball fence. I'm guessing they just got varying lengths of rebar (or similar) and put some sort of epoxy in one of the finger holes and just staggered them. Maybe someday I'll stop in and ask for instructions.

I just searched google for other bowling ball fences and none were as pretty as this one. I think it looks sorta artsy.

I'm sure you noticed the ugly "photo from yardsalequeen.com" across the photo. I did that cuz I am tired people taking my pictures and more without permission. And I figured this picture is a kind that someone (not YOU of course) would copy and put on a crafts website without asking permission. So I figure, I might as well get credit for it.

The other day I stumbled across a new garage sale website and saw that they copied word for word - about a half page directly from my website. And then on someone else's blog I saw a picture that I took - with no credit or mention of yardsalequeen.com Very irritating to know there are people who think nothing of taking someone else's work and claiming it as their own. Makes me want to come over and knock them upside the head with my bitch belt buckle (that is, if I could find where I put it.)

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Jacob had a dentist appointment today. One that I had been dreading. Well at least it's over. He had 4 sealants put on molars and they used laughing gas to help relax him. Well today I found out that he is one of the type of kids that laughing gas has no effect on. He kicked, fought and cried. At one point there were 4 hygenists in the room plus the dentist (and me). A few of the hygenists were just for keeping him immobile. My sister used a pediatric dentist who would "papoose" the difficult kids - basically put them in some sort of straight jacket and velcro them to the chair so they couldn't move. Jacob's dentist doesn't do any of that. She is really great - she makes me feel like she sees kicking and screaming every day and what Jacob does is typical. Hard to believe it was all done in about 20 minutes.

I managed to snap a pic on my cellphone. (I edited the pic for privacy.)

My other goal for the day was to get a Mother's Day card in the mail to my mom. I knew if I didn't send it today, it wouldn't get to NY in time. The past few days I looked and looked at various places for an appropriate card and couldn't find one. We are not the kind of family who sends sentimental mushy cards. I try to find a Mother's Day card that either revolves around liquor, gambling or having to pee. (The best card I sent a few years ago said "Cheers! It's Mother's Day! Not exactly a drinking holiday, but why not?")

But I was having trouble this year finding a good card. It seems that this year Hallmark is trying to cram $4.99 musical or record-a-message type cards down the everyone's throat. So...with all the space that those big $4.99 mushy cards take up, there was less space for a good selection of sarcastic or funny mother's day cards.

I ended up going to a small independent pharmacy and found this $2.29 card - which will do. (I took a pic with my cellphone before I mailed it off).

On the inside it said "That's how we remember it"

After I dropped Jacob off at school, and after mailing the card at the P.O., I stopped at Smile and saw this neat old banana seat bike (for $10). I didn't buy it but thought it looked cool. Of course I am too young to remember when those style bikes were popular ;)

Coming tomorrow on the blog - a project using old bowling balls (like the ones you find dirt cheap at yardsales).

p.s. Now is the time to buy some Forever stamps (at .41 each). The cost of a stamp goes up to .42 next week. So might as well buy some at .41 this week (assuming you mail stuff occasionally).

Monday, May 05, 2008

I am volunteering my time later this month at the local museum. I get such a sense of accomplishment doing volunteer work in the community. I will be a volunteer bartender. Yes, an important and needed duty. I will help to quench the parched throats of concert goers by serving them beer, wine, soda and water. (Bartenders do not receive tips - all tips go to the museum for their educational programs etc). The local museum hosts a few concerts during the year as a way to make money. And selling beverages at the concert is another way they make money for their programs. The next concert is Dierks Bentley (country music if you are not familiar with the name). I am not sure who is the opening act. Bucky Covington (from American Idol) has opened for some of Dierk's shows, but not this one. I like Bucky and would have liked to have seen him.

So anyway, I've been listening to some Dierks Bentley music to get more familiar with it. And believe me, I don't mind looking at the Dierk's promo posters that all the local businesses have plastered in their windows. Not bad to look at at all. See if you agree with my assessment...here is one of his videos.

I just thought of this. If spending your tax stimulus check at yardsales is too much work for you, I have a better and smarter idea.....just donate/give it to me, and I'll do all the hard work of spending the money at the yardsales.

Here's a donation link to make it easy for you. (I'm so thoughtful!)

p.s. Sorry - but I can't figure out how to make all that white space above the Paypal donation button go away.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

As you may have heard, each of us will be getting a tax rebate check tostimulate the economy.

If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China. Ifwe spend it on gasoline it will go to the Arabs. If we purchase a computerit will go to India. If we purchase fruits and vegetables it will go toHonduras, and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car it will go to Japan.

If we purchase useless stuff it will go to Taiwan and none of it willhelp the American economy.

We need to keep that money here in America. The only way to keep thatmoney here at home is to spend it at yard sales, since those are theonly businesses left owned by Americans!!

Saturday, May 03, 2008

I love storage. I used have an ordinary, normal attitude toward storage, but now I love it. Anything that makes my *stuff* more organized so that I can go out and buy more stuff at yardsales makes me happy. The way I am going, an intervention with Dr. Phil in attendance may be sooner than I think.

Today I bought two CD/DVD Sauder bookcases at a yardsale (both for $25). I justify it since they utilize space better and hold more than our old VHS bookcases. The seller had them marked $20 each but I asked if they would take $20 for both - they counter-offered at $25. This month I am going to have another yardsale so I will try to sell the old ones then. One is for holding our overflow of CDs (we have a different bookcase for the majority of our CDs) and the other went into Jacob's room.

Here are some "before" and "after" pics of Jacob's room:

And for our CD overflow:

It's hard to believe but it's the exact same # of CDs that are in the top old bookcase are now in the new bottom bookcase. But with the new bookcase, there is so much more room to add more.

And for me I bought this little trinket. I bitch belt buckle. Surprisingly, I didn't already have one. It was $1. Color looks a little weird since I took the pic without the flash. It's silver colored. Not sure what I will do with it.

My other buys for today included 3 packages of Axo Earl Grey tea (in cellophane) for $1 for all. For DH. I don't drink tea in any form or flavor. I also bought him a nice new Minnesota Vikings mug for a quarter - will put away for Father's Day - as a gift from Jacob.

I didn't really buy much today. I have high hopes for next Saturday. One of my favorite church's is having their annual sale. It starts at 6:30 a.m.

On a sad note, I am losing two area religion-based thrifts. They aren't thrifts that I would shop religiously at (haha) since they were both about 15 miles away (in opposite directions) but I would always try to stop if I was in their area. One is the Catholic Charities thrift (Faithfully Frugal) and the other is Beth's Reruns (a Jewish thrift). Both are closing within weeks.

What really makes me sad is that the Faithfully Frugal store is the store that I bought the Benjamin Moore Aura paint at (for $3). So now I am not sure where the paint store will donate the paint to.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

So yesterday I mentioned I was going to run out and get some .31 scoop ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Yeah right. Went around 6:45 and noticed that the parking lot was fuller than normal. Not a good sign. I parked and Jacob and I went inside Baskin Robbins and the place was packed. So I thought, geez, we'll go eat somewhere and come back in an hour or so.

And my local Baskin Robbins changed the time listed on their .31 Scoop advertisement in their store from 5pm - 10pm (what it was supposed to be) to 5pm - 9pm. Grrrrrrrrr - pretty sneaky. So we go eat at McD and Jacob had ice cream there for $1.06. For a buck, McDonalds has tasty icecream. For the heck of it, I swing back by BR to check (it was around 7:45) and the line was out the door! What the heck????

I started thinking, no way am I going to wait in that long line and actually have to pay. I think back to this past St. Patty's Day when I was in NY with Jacob and Stewarts had FREE ice cream and there was NO line! And here Baskin Robbins wants me to wait in that awfully long line and pay for it? I don't think so. I've had more free ice cream in my life than the average person so I am not waiting in a Baskin Robbins line with a squirmy 8 year old. My brother worked for many years as an accountant at an ice cream factory in NY and every week he got to take home free ice cream, as a benefit. I remember counting something like 16 half gallons of ice cream one time in my parent's very large extra freezer.

Now don't misunderstand - I didn't say I would never eat BR ice cream again, I'm just saying that I'm not waiting in some long line. I'll take Jacob with one of the Buy 1 Get 1 free coupons that I have. We do have an awfully nice Baskin Robbins in town - it even has a view - of the dump (trash transfer station). Here is a pic I took earlier this year when my husband and I got Buy 1 Get 1 Free sundaes and we sat outside enjoying the ice cream while watching people throw away their garbage. And to think people complain that there's nothing to do in our small town.

Yardsalequeen.com

I have a wide variety of interests: going to yard sales, garage sales, thrift stores, estate sales and rummage sales. After I had my son Jacob in 2000, I quit my job at a nuclear power plant after almost 10 years. Now I just sit home, eat bonbons and watch Ellen while I plan my strategy to hit next week's yardsales. Laugh. Dance. Yardsale.